High speed machines and methods for manufacturing plastic bags or pouches in large quantities, are known. Also known are high speed machines and methods for manufacturing pouches with side gussets and bottom gusset. Manufacturing methods and machines are also known and available for producing standing plastic pouches. Plastic pouches with or without gussets can be produced having a top that can be closed and opened.
Machines for producing plastic pouches having gussets and methods for producing the same have been patented.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,917 discloses a Bag Making Machine which uses separate sources for the top and bottom or front and back plastic web panels requiring multiple accumulators. The separate feeding of the web panel films causes mismatch of designs necessitating a re-unification assembly to address the design matching problem. Apart from this, the machine according to this invention provides little flexibility in terms of the width of the plastic film that the machine can use.
US Patent application no. 2012/0231941 discloses a Plastic bag making apparatus wherein the gusset portions have been separately attached and temporarily fixed to the main two films. The gusset portions need to be separately attached because of which the process is long and to match the registration or print of the plastic bags becomes difficult. Such process has a need for re-unification assembly so as to overcome the barrier of mechanical distance and hence, the machine and method makes it difficult to manufacture gusseted plastic bags compromising production efficiency.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,796,932 discloses a manufacturing method and apparatus for manufacturing gusseted bag using two separate films and a bottom gusset. However, the bottom gusset structure is separately placed between the two layers of the main film and then heat-sealed to form the bottom gusset. In this invention two main plastic films and one bottom gusset plastic film have been used requiring multiple accumulators. The machine does enhance production efficiency, but it increases the cost of manufacturing the plastic bags with gussets as three separate plastic films have been used. The machine also requires large floor space for installation and operation.
The present invention alleviates the abovementioned disadvantages and shortcomings of the machines and processes for manufacturing plastic pouches with three gussets.